Earth anchor



Oct. 9, 1951 E, K. COLE 2,570,646

' EARTH ANCHOR Filed March 27, 1948 j @l mmvmzfma' f5 7mm '4 myd@- Wmwff@ mm@ afa/mm @y Patented Oct. 9, 1951 EARTH ANCHOR Elmer K.'Cole,Centralia, Mo., assignor toA. B.

Chance Company, Centralia, Mo., a corporation of Missouri ApplicationMarch 27, 1948, Serial No. 17,480

2 Claims. (Cl. ISB-92) The principal object of my invention is toprovide a simple anchor means for securing cables or like to the earththat has a plurality of wings stamped or formed from a single sheet ofmetal.

A further object of this invention is to provide an expanding earthanchor that may be substantially all formed from sheet metal.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a strong butvrelatively light weight expandable anchor.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an expandableearth anchor that is economical in manufacture, refined in appearanceand durable in use. f

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combinationof the Various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side view of my anchor ready for use.

' Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View of the anchor, taken on line 2-2of Fig. 1, and more fully illustrates its construction.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the metal sheet element that is to be bent andformed into the anchor wings.

Fig. 4 is an end View of the sheet shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a side View of my anchor being placed in a hole for use.

Fig. 6 is a side view of the anchor in a hole and being expanded by atamper or like.

. Earth anchors are universally used wherever it is desired to secure abrace rod cable, guy rope, Wire or like to the ground. Most of suchanchors yare made of cast iron bases and cast iron wings.

Obviously, such a construction is objectionably heavy and costly.Furthermore, these anchors that have hinged cast wings are of many partsand are complicated for both manufacture and assembly. I have overcomesuch objections by providing an anchor having a plurality of bendablewings cut and formed from a sheet of suitable metal such as sheet steelor sheet iron.

Referring to the drawings I have used the numeral I to designate asquare sheet of metal from which the anchor wings are made. This sheetis cut on eight substantially radially extending lines I I. These cutlines terminate short of the center of the metal sheet as shown in Fig.

2 3 and form an eight sided center base section I2. The lines II are cutso that they extend at each side of each corner of the metal-sheetthereby forming the four major elongated pointed segments I3, I4, I5 andI6. Between each of these major wing segments is a minor or short wingsegment. These minor segments are designated by the numerals I1, I8, I9and 20. To strengthen each of these major and minor segments I haveprovided an elongated bead or corrugation 2l that extends down thecenter of each segment. To form this portion of my anchor the segmentsI3, I4, I5 and I6 are lirst bent downwardly from the center portion I2,with each segment wing having its side edges slightly bent horizontallyinwardly or curved from its center corrugation, as shown in thedrawings. This brings the -side marginal edges of the major wingsadjacent each otherthereby producing an inverted cup. Next the minorwing segments are bent downwardly, and horizontally inwardly to embracethe major wings. Each minor segment wing overlaps two major wings asshown in Fig. l. If desired, the wings may be formed to extenddownwardly and outwardly in a curved path, or substantially straight, asshown in the drawings. For reinforcement purposes, I rivet, spot weld orotherwise secure a strengthening plate 22 on the underside of theportion I2 as shown in Fig. 2. The numeral 23 designates the circularbase wing spreading plate. The shape of this plate is similar to aninverted saucer in that its marginal edge portion extends downwardly andoutwardly in slight curve. The numeral 24 designates a rod or like towhich the cable, rope, wire or like to be held is secured. Such rods arecommon and usually have an attaching eye 25 at their upper ends. Thisrod slidably extends through the center of the portion I2 and the plate22 and has'its lower end portion slidably extending through the plate 23and threaded into the nut 25. This nut is on the bottom of the plate 23and may be secured thereon by any suitable means such as a nut retainer2'I, riveted, spot welded or otherwise secured to the plate 23. Thesefew parts complete my anchor. If desired, more or less wings may be cutand formed from the sheet I0 than that shown in the drawings. I nd thata very suitable anchor may be produced by forming only four wings. Inany event, it will be noted that there is absolutely no waste materialin the sheet I0. The numeral 28 designates the earth and a prepared hole29 therein. My anchor is inserted in the hole 29 as shown in Fig. 5. Thenext operation is to hammer by a tamping tool or like 30 on top of theportion l2 as shown in Fig. 6. This hammering forces the top of theanchor toward the base plate 23. This action causes the major wings toengage the plate 23 and spread out into extended positions as shown inFig. 6. After all the wings have been suitably spread the holelisrelledwithdirt andfth'eburied anchor is "ready'to 'perform itsrequirements. If 'it is ever desired to discontinue the use of theanchor, the rod may be unscrewed therefrom and removed, or by hammeringon the upper=endof the rod the nut retainer will break and permit therod to be driven into the earth Land out "oi the way.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement ofmyt'earth anchor without departing from the real spirit and purpose ofmy invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modiedforms of structure -or use of 'mechanical equivalents whichrnay be-reasonably included within'their scope.

I claim:

1. An earth anchorfassemblyfcomprising -aguy rod-an anchor Ybodycomprising asheet rnetal member 'of substantially rectangular-shapehaving a substantially 'cen-tralbore slidably receiving said #guyrodandhaving .an oetagonal 'base "area surroundingfsaid bore-'forengagement with 'a tamping-banfsaid anchor lbody having a plu-'iality-of slits therein-extending fifomsaidoctagonalbase outwardlyto'the sides of said member and forming four -short side blades aand fourllonger pointed .corner fl-blades, eaeh foff Vsaid 'side blades beinginterposed between 'its Yrespective "corner'blades, all of saidfbladesbeingbent downward along lines 'located at the edges of 'said :octagonal'base area "to form a generally vconical lanchor body, thecornerbladesbeing 'bent :into #position vwith `their :side edges .being adjacent,and the' side blades evenappingthe: adjacent4 por- VVtions ofthe cornerblades, a "spreaderniember hvlhg a bdy Afpltll 'plOViid with aSubstantially centralapertur'e receivingzs'aidguyrod and 'a"substantially 'circular ein;arming .portion :for 'spreading Asaidanchor blades, thevends of the longer corner vblades engaging theexpanding portion of said spreader, so that tamping upon the octagonalbase area causes the blades to move downward and outward over thespreader, the outer edges of said blades engaging in undisturbed earthsurrounding a hole in which the anchor is installed, and means securingsaid guy rod to said spreader.

' 2. A11 earth anchor assembly comprising an V'anchor body-comprising Ya4'sheet 'metal member of substantially rectangular shape having asubstantially central bore for slidably receiving a fguyrrod and havingan octagonal base area surrounding said bore for engagement with a tamp-4lng bar, said anchor body having a plurality of slitsithereinextendingfrom said octagonal base outwardly to "'the'sdes of said body andformiingfour.-shortsideablades and four longer pointed corner blades,each of said side blades being interposed between its respective cornerblades, all of said blades being bent downward along flines located atthe edgesof said .octagonal base .area tto form a'generally conicalanchor body, the corner blades being Vbent 'into rposition with ward andoutward over the'spreader, the outer edges of said blades engaging inVundisturbed earth-surrounding a holein which the anchor is installed.

K. COLE.

, REFERENCES CITED The'ollowing references are of record in the 'l'e ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES vvPATENTS Number Name Date v `1,702,536 Cole Feb. 19, i9292,320,464 l Pieper June .1, k'1943

